Search form

This lawsuit alleges that Cornerstone Home Lending violated federal employment laws by not paying loan officers time and a half for overtime.

Cornerstone claims that it is “a national home lender” which “has more than 1,000 full-time employees” and “[o]ver 100 branch offices throughout the United States.” Cornerstone offers mortgages and loan products to individual consumers in at least 36 states and claims that it “ranks #30 nationally [in] annual loan volume among all home lenders” and “ranks #10 nationally among independent mortgage companies.”

Plaintiff Christina Bingham currently resides in Peoria, Arizona. She was a loan officer at Cornerstone from approximately October 2014 until March 2015 at a Scottsdale, Arizona branch office.

She was compensated by getting a weekly “draw” against commissions, which practically meant she was a commission employee. She alleges that she was discouraged from inputting more than 40 hours a week into Cornerstone’s timekeeping system and she further alleges that at times her employer would enter in only 40 hours of work for her when in fact she worked substantially more than 40 hours.

The plaintiff goes on the allege that her schedule fluctuated from day-today. Her regular schedule had her working Mondays through Fridays, generally from 8:30 am until 8:00 pm. Additionally, she worked at least five (5) to six (6) weekend days every month, generally working from 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm. Plaintiff also performed additional hours of work each week using her mobile device to send and receive business-related emails, texts, and/or phone calls. As such, during this time period, Plaintiff’s regular schedule had her working an average of 60-65 hours per week.

Loan Officers are not “exempt” under federal wage and hour laws and therefore must be compensated time and a half for all hours worked each week over 40. She alleges that she was not and that there are many similar situated current and former loan officers who were similarly underpaid.

Current Case Status:

This is one of a growing number of cases challenging the pay structure for loan officers. Recently, federal agencies have ruled that loan officers are not "Exempt" from federal employment laws so how the entire industry compensates loan officers is now in question. We will update this case in October, 2015.